…Interesting there is some commentary about multiple lower denomination coins (20 billion or something) would be more palatable, though not sure its worth adding to the article yet.

20:35, 9 January 2013 (UTC)

]]>By: Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)http://patterico.com/2013/01/04/democrat-congressman-lets-pay-off-the-debt-by-minting-a-trillion-dollar-coin/#comment-1144705
Thu, 10 Jan 2013 00:24:31 +0000http://patterico.com/?p=72044#comment-1144705Best of the Web traces the trillion dollar coin idea – or something close to it – it’s a banknote there – to an episode of the Simpsons)

The title, of course, is a play on the title of the Star Trek original series episode: “The Trouble with Tribbles”

]]>By: Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)http://patterico.com/2013/01/04/democrat-congressman-lets-pay-off-the-debt-by-minting-a-trillion-dollar-coin/#comment-1144701
Thu, 10 Jan 2013 00:11:39 +0000http://patterico.com/?p=72044#comment-1144701Here’s a year 2000 letter to the New York Times I found that actually backs up the claim that secret instruction to the Joint Chiefs of Staff:
(but read further toward the end of this comment)

In his and Brent Scowcroft’s letter (Nov. 5), former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger denied having been associated with Defense Secretary James Schlesinger in directing the Joint Chiefs of Staff to ignore orders from President Richard Nixon.

As one who during 1973-75 served on one of the Battle Staff units, on permanent standby to brief the president and top commanders in the event of a nuclear crisis, I know otherwise.

As I have testified in secret debriefings and in both open and closed sessions of House and Senate committees as far back as 1975, Kissinger signed or countersigned at least three such orders in the final year of the Nixon presidency. I have so testified under penalty of perjury several times.

After the first such order in 1973 signed by Kissinger, the Joint Chiefs demanded that any subsequent ones be countersigned by at least one other Nixon cabinet officer. A second such order, again an instruction not to obey the president until further notice, was signed by Kissinger and, to the best of my recollection, Elliot Richardson.

At least one other was jointly signed by Kissinger and Defense Secretary Schlesinger. Such orders were always sent ”Top Secret, Eyes Only, Limited Distribution,” bypassing other traffic. Sometimes they remained in effect for a week, most times only two to four days.

The orders were issued at times of perceived Nixon mental instability. I repeatedly received them in my own hands, as did numerous others serving in sensitive nuclear control positions during that last horrific year of the Nixon presidency.

Barry A. Toll

Painesville, Ohio

Paul Nitze’s autobiography is supposed to have been the source that Schlesinger was worried that Alexander Haig might make a military coup (but Wikipedia seems to indicate a source problem maybe, which might mean nothing, Either that’s in the book, or it’s not, and maybe the Wikipedia editors are just being picky)

I brought it up anyway to show that (at least in theory) people can defy orders of a president if they think they are off the wall.

You’ve now reached fourth order self parody.

It turns out Seymour Hersh is wrong, and yet some of what the Wikipedia article says is right, except that the main instigator to these orders to the Joints Chiefs of Staff was perhaps Henry Kissinger, and Attorney General Elliot Richardson also was involved. If so, Henry Kissinger did not want this to be a precedent, and tried to hide it from history.

One more question remains: Who’s Barry Toll?

He was arguing there were missing prisoners not released at the end of the Vietnam War, who were captured in Laos.

Gekoski eventually reached the conclusion that Barry Toll was s deluded self-promoter, possible motivated by a desire to create a smokescreen of sensational charges to disguise the true circumstances of his discharge from the Army and his later drug conviction. This inference was bolstered during one interview when Toll gave Gekoski a disjointed and rambling account of his service on the Battle Staff of the Airborne Command Post. Toll said that he had received calls directly from Richard Nixon while the President was “dead drunk,” ordering Toll to prepare for an immediate nuclear attack on the Soviet Union.” (68)

That’s why I mentioned who said it, because that means there could be a problem with that story.

First I noticed the Wikipedia article, and I know I had heard that before, then the source. I was careful to note the source.

That means the actual story could be a little bit meaning a lot!) different than what he said.

But even scaled down, it could mean that Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger took some kind of precautions, like maybe asking the Joint Chiefs of Staff to check with him if they got an order to use nuclear weapons.

It’s not clear to me that Seymour Hersh is the only source for all of it.

Maybe Hersh is only the source for the story about a contingency plan for the 82nd Airborne to force Nixon to step down in the event of impeachment.